Latest market data

Stock search

Car service Uber is taking some heat for a program that
disrupts services offered by its main rival, Lyft. Among
Uber's perceived sins is stealing Lyft drivers and meddling with
Lyft's ability to service its customers by ordering rides itself.

Uber, we are told, is fighting nasty. It is
hitting below the belt. It is trying to put Lyft out of
business. Horrors, it may even be winning.

Good. Every company should compete hard. That doesn't mean
playing dirty or breaking the law, but nowhere is it written that
you always have to play fair.

At some point, competition became a nasty word in this country.
I've judged some startup competitions recently, and met with a
few entrepreneurs privately, and when I ask about their
competitive environment, I get dreadfully milquetoast
replies: "We look at our competitors as potential partners."
"We have no competition, since our product is so unique." "I'm
going to let our competitors worry about themselves and focus on
my customers and building my own business."

Excrement.

Competition is important. A competitive zeal, a desire to want to
see your rivals fail as much as you want to succeed, is a key
trait of leadership. Once -- just once -- I want to hear
someone say, "X is our primary competitor and I want to put those
bastards out of business within the next 12 months."

Instead, there is this disappointing, clubbish comradery that
exists in the business world, particularly among startups. People
want to be liked. After all, they all hang in the same circles.
They collaborate. They work together. They live in the same
neighborhoods. They listen to the same bands. In this
neo-Bushwood world, competition, and the resultant conflict that
comes from it, can land you in Judge Smails' office for a stern
lecture about the benefits of collegiality.

But history shows people don't win by playing nice. Steve Jobs
didn't build consensus internally, let alone collaborate with
companies in his space. Jeff Bezos didn't waste his time thinking
of ways Borders could reinvent itself. Indra Nooyi doesn't
wake up every day and ask how she can help her friends at
Coca-Cola.

Rather than plastering your walls with life-affirming messages of
inspiration that make you the nicest guy in the room, there is a
Latin phrase to memorize (with me, there always is): Oderint
dum metuant. Attributed to the Roman poet Lucius Appius, it
translates roughly into, "Let them hate me, so long as they fear
me." You want competitors to fear you. You want them to hate you.
It shouldn't matter. You want them to shut their doors and board
up their windows.

A rallying cry for more cutthroat competition seems like
something people who make a business of doing business should
never need to hear, but we do. Think about it: We live in a
society that celebrates trying to succeed as much as it does the
actual success. We can't applaud at
sporting events because it might make the losing team feel
bad about themselves. We want equal outcomes rather than equal
opportunities. Every kid has to get a trophy.

But that's not the way it works in a truly free market. There
should be winners and there should be losers. Losing isn't a
stigma. The best part of defeat is that we can learn from
it. When we are competitive, when we destroy our rivals, we
actually can make both sides
stronger. Smart businesspeople learn from failure. Love your
competitor that much? Then think of shuttering their business as
an act of love and learning, if that helps you sleep at night.

And, make no mistake, the competition doesn't end after victory,
since winning can be fleeting. Even once you have vanquished one
competitor, another is bound to start up. Winners can never rest
on their laurels. Competition, and the fighting spirit that
drives it, is a daily responsibility for the business leader.

For G-d's sake, just fight. Be innovative in how you approach
your competitor as much as you are in how you serve your
customer. Think of it, in fact, as a form of creative customer
service. Your competitor's product is crap, so you almost have a
responsibility to keep your customer away from it by
driving your competition out of business. It's a win-win (or, if
we take your rival's position into our equation, a win-win-lose).

I recognize that doing good is also good business, and monopolies
are bad for everyone. You should never break the law, or act
unethically. That's bad business, since it can lead to customer
distrust (putting aside that it is just plain wrong). But it
isn't a healthy business approach to sit back and cheer on your
competitors either. Nor is it good to "tsk tsk" a company like
Uber that makes it a full-time job to disrupt
its competitor's business. Rather, you should be taking
notes.

You can have a good day at work, but it becomes a great day when
your competitor is having a bad day. There is much virtue in that
attitude.